You often ask me how we can make dry flowers. Well, today I will explain a very very fast method to do it.
First of all and to put ourselves a little I commented that the main reason that the flowers are damaged is the water inside them. So the key to keeping them is to get rid of that water.
According to the method of removing the water and the desired finish, we can differentiate between flower preserved and dried flowers.
The flowers preserved s is what I use on my bells and paintings. They look like fresh flowers in sight and touch. They are natural flowers that are subjected to a treatment that replaces the water with another liquid. In this way they can keep the appearance of fresh flower up to 4 or 5 years in ideal conditions of humidity and temperature and if they are not exposed to sunlight. This treatment is expensive and not easy to do, that’s why these flowers are so expensive.
Glass bell with roses preserved in my little shop
We remove the water from the dried flowers and do not replace it with anything. This makes it change its appearance with respect to a fresh flower both in sight and in touch.
HOME TECHNIQUES
A homemade technique to dry flowers with volume consists of hanging the flowers upside down, leaving them in a cool, dry and dark place until they dry and fix them with lacquer. If we pressed we can bring them a weight on top, with a press or between the pages of a book. Both techniques are simple but they need a lot of time.
Right now the dried pressed flowers seem to be the most beautiful and ” interesting” in the world. The other day when I was looking for original gifts related to flowers, I found some presses to make dry flowers and I got a crazy desire to try them. But I had to abstain because I am in the middle of the cost containment season and also with the haste that I always carry as if to make dry flowers.
But since I needed a way to satisfy my needs quickly and economically, I started to investigate and in the end, I found it. In 3 minutes you have your flowers dry and ready to make a picture, a book point or whatever you can think of.
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO MAKE DRY FLOWERS IN 3 MINUTES?
- The flowers you want to dry. 2. ceramic tiles 3. Blotting or absorbent paper used in kitchen 4. Rope and scissors 5. A picture frame (if you want to make a picture with the flowers afterward).
To make these paintings I used the flowers that I found in January in my parents’ garden: calendula, fennel, heather, borage and a little white flower that grows everywhere and whose name I do not know.
Other flowers that are pressed very well are bougainvillea, hydrangea, pansy, violas, lobelias, fuchsias. elderberry and wildflowers in general. Fine flowers are usually appropriate, without many layers of petals.
Keep in mind that the best time to cut flowers is always afternoon because that is when they have less water.
HOW DO WE DO IT?
The first thing we will do is place the flowers on the absorbent paper and this one on one of the tiles.
When placing the flowers you have to think about how you want them to be. The calendula (this flower similar to daisies) can be placed so that the petals form a circle or crushed. It is very important that the flowers do not touch each other and that no petal or leaf remains bent. They are very delicate so you have to be careful when handling them.
Then we cover the flowers with another absorbent paper, put the other tile over it and tie it with rope so that it does not move and is tight.
The next step is to put the whole set in the microwave, at full power for one minute. Above all, he uses a rope and not wire or anything metallic, that the metal is not very friendly with the microwave.
When removing it, be careful that the tiles can burn. Then we remove the rope, the upper tile, and the upper absorbent paper. Always very careful not to move any petal.
How to make dry flowers
We dry the tile that we have removed because it is probably wet by the moisture of the flowers and we put on it another clean absorbent paper.
We are passing all the flowers one by one to the new paper. This step must be done with great care that the petals do not bend. Then we dry the other tile and cover the flowers with another absorbent paper and with the other tile.
We return to microwave 1 minute at maximum power. When we remove it, we repeat the process of changing the absorbent paper. We return to put in the microwave and we leave it another minute.
This time when you take it out you have to notice that the flowers are stiff, so much that if you bend them they would break. If they are still flexible, they are still not dry. You will have to repeat another minute or more that is necessary. It depends on the flower, the thicker it is, the more it will cost to dry. Generally, in three times most of the flowers come out dry.
ET VOILÀ
Once dry, I used the flowers to make some paintings to decorate my studio, but you can use them to make bookmarks or whatever you can think of.
Thank you very much for reading to me. If you decide to try this method, I’ll be happy to show you the result on Instagram or Facebook. You tag me and put the #florifotos hashtag, which you already know that I love seeing your flower photos.
